Money Earned Blog - Money Earnedhttp://www.moneyearned.net/blog/Tue, 22 Mar 2016 16:11:31 +0000en-USSite-Server v6.0.0-15121-15121 (http://www.squarespace.com)A community working to promote smart, ethical business and marketing <br/>practices.Community-Wealth.orgResource ReviewsShawn StoneWed, 09 Mar 2016 20:09:04 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2016/3/9/community-wealthorg560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:56e051602fe131546a6ef6d5Resources and guidance for community wealth building: Co-ops, Social
Enterprise, and so much more
By Shawn StoneResources and guidance for community wealth-building: Co-ops, Social Enterprise, and so much more

By Shawn Stone

Progressive business comes in many forms, but you'll inevitably find yourself drawn to some ideas more than others. You don't have to create a utopia; you can start with the few ideas that grab you. Community wealth is only one such idea. Take a look below to see if aspects of community wealth speak to you...

First, what is community wealth?

"A (community) wealth strategy aims at improving the ability of communities and individuals to increase asset ownership, anchor jobs locally, expand the provision of public services, and ensure local economic stability."

- Community-Wealth.org

Community-Wealth.org is a website that offers resources and guidance for all shapes and sizes of community wealth strategies. On a large scale, community wealth strategies combine the efforts and resources of many different organizations, as with The Cleveland Model and The Mondragon Cooperative. Unless you're a city planner, a politician, or exorbitantly wealthy, that's aiming a little high.

Name one problem a community yacht and a rum ham can't solve.

Let's start small. Here are three ways you can create community wealth:

1. Cooperatives

Co-ops are businesses that are owned and governed by their workers or patrons. Rather than existing to create wealth for investors, co-ops exist to improve the lives of their workers and patrons. They tend to create ethical, long-lasting businesses while encouraging a devoted and happy workforce.

Worker co-ops are democratically governed, with each member holding one vote. Members elect a board responsible for establishing policy and selecting management. From this point, managers handle the day-to-day needs as with a traditional business. Structures vary widely depending on business size and culture, but often share profits based on a formula that takes W-2 wages, working hours, and seniority into account. These structures can be really simple, or get highly intricate and creative.

Cabot Creamery is a pretty famous co-op brand in the U.S. you may have seen at your grocery store. And speaking of grocery stores, an example of a patron-owned co-op is a food cooperative, in which member patrons band together to create a socially conscious alternative to corporate grocery stores. They are also democratically governed with each member voting on a board.

2. Employee Stock Ownership Plans

ESOPs are a common alternative to co-ops that often emphasize worker-ownership over worker-governance. They are commonly used as a means for larger business owners to "cash out" by selling their business to their employees. I stress larger businesses because it can be a fairly expensive model to start and maintain, but pays off in excellent tax benefits for the exiting owner and employees.

Since owners are only required to sell at least 30% of their company to create an ESOP, they or other investors can often retain control of the company. Despite this limited governance, employees still benefit from shared profits and typically earn more than in competing corporate businesses. Creation of an ESOP is often reflective of a strong, employee-centered culture.

My first encounter with an ESOP was when I interviewed the leadership of PadillaCRT, the largest employee-owned PR firm in the U.S. I was floored by their thoughtful dedication to their culture and employees. Those conversations were a huge inspiration as I drafted my own business ideas that eventually led to creating the Money Earned community.

You mean I don't have to work solely to make someone else rich every day?

3. Social Enterprise

Social enterprises are businesses (either non-profit or for-profit) that work to create positive change in some fashion. Rather than relying on donations like a standard non-profit, they sell a good or service to earn their funding. Social enterprises represent a wide range of businesses, but typically focus on producing a positive good/service or raising money through their business to contribute to a positive cause. See my article on Certified Benefit Corporations for more info on the social enterprise movement.

What does Community-Wealth.org offer?

Calling Community-Wealth.org a robust resource for community wealth strategies would be an understatement. They've incorporated ideas and platforms I'd never even heard of, and done so in a thoughtful and helpful format. For whichever strategy you're interested in pursuing, they've laid out everything they could find:

Toolkits - These are designed to aid you with step-by-step guidance as you work to build your own unique vision for the strategy you choose. They're often a compilation of resources and guidebooks meant to give you a holistic understanding of the work ahead.

Best Practices - Case studies! All the case studies! See detailed examples of effective organizations using the strategies you hope to pursue.

Policy Guides - Each strategy has its own challenges with laws and regulations. Use these guides to connect you to the government agencies and resources you need to navigate rough legal seas.

Support Organizations - Some strategies have entire websites and organizations devoted to their specific needs. Find them all compiled together so you can soak up every bit of help available.

Research - Government or private, local or international, research can be key to unlocking the full potential for your strategy and promoting your idea to key stakeholders and influencers. People love to see the numbers.

Articles and Publications - You could and should use Google to read up on your strategy, but you can save a lot of time because they've already found a lot of the good content. Read up.

So does any of that sound good to you?

If so, go! On with you! Work with your friends and neighbors to make something special that stands the tests of time and leaves a legacy like no other. Don't just make money...Better the lives of your community, their children, and their grandchildren.

What strategy stood out to you? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

I've spent just over a month putting this book together as a means of saying thanks to the Money Earned community. No matter what kind of business you have, a professional customer survey can offer great rewards. I've compiled years of professional market research experience and laid it out into (what I hope is) a clear and helpful guidebook for amateur and experienced professionals.

To quote part of the book's intro...

"Reading this handy little book and following through will get you on the way to:

Happier customers who are being acknowledged and appreciated

Improved products or services through detailed feedback

Awareness of problems or benefits you haven’t even noticed

Improved marketing and messaging targeted to your specific audience

Confidence from tracking changes in your business over time

Thicker, more luxuriousbody hair."

So you may have guessed from that excerpt or having read literally any of my blog posts that I don't take myself too seriously in my writing. This book holds true to that understanding, but with the added benefit of silly doodles ranging in skill from terrible to just pretty bad. Exhibit A:

So for anyone new to the community, just subscribe to our newsletter here and you'll gain access to a link to your free copy. Anyone already on our email list is getting a copy sent straight to their inbox after I publish this post.

I plan on creating all sorts of books and guides in the future, and you can even help choose the topics by participating in our survey linked on page 29 in the book. I'm looking forward to your ideas!

What do you think of the book? Any questions? Hit me up in the comments or the forum.

]]>Foresight: A Friendly Guide to Growing Your Business with Professional Customer SurveysWhoa! Pro-Bono Cash Flow Variety Show, Yo!LifestyleShawn StoneMon, 01 Feb 2016 17:47:51 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2016/2/1/whoa-pro-bono-cash-flow-variety-show-yo560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:56af8a2d4d088e3be58e8940How to volunteer your way to all the cornball, cliché, but genuinely
wonderful things your self-help books always promise you
By Shawn StoneHow to volunteer your way to all the cornball, cliché, but genuinely wonderful things your self-help books always promise you

By Shawn Stone

“Volunteering?” you say. “That’s for high schoolers building their references, bored housewives, and criminals working off community service.”

Yes, that’s true. However, there’s a lot to be gained from volunteering besides staying out of jail and talking down to other moms. Not that those aren’t pretty great on their own...

It's not that I'm BETTER than you. I'm just...different.

Come with me on a brief, but magical quest of voluntary self-discovery.

First off: Why does anyone bother volunteering?

I’m not so naïve as to believe in pure altruism. I definitely lean more toward Kant’s perspective: sometimes we do good because it makes us look good, and other times we do good because it makes us feel good. We often receive a sense of fulfillment and duty through an innate need to support our peers.

Good.

It’s refreshing to know that we’re hardwired toward benevolence. Sure, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs requires that we take care of our base needs before we can get around to better things; but sure enough, we eventually will. When we do get around to being benevolent, we may as well use our time wisely and get the most out of it (for ourselves and others).

Six ways you can benefit from volunteering

1. It grows your personal brand

It’s easy to get distracted by the plethora of volunteering options out there, but that’s only if you don’t think about why you’re volunteering. You’re trying to help people, and the most valuable way to help people is to offer rare skills you’ve already mastered.

Sticking to what you know also gives you the opportunity to introduce new faces to the wealth of value you bring to the table. Once they’ve seen you in action, they might recommend you to a future client (or even hire you themselves).

Beyond showing off your talents, volunteering shows strength of character. A charitable nature earns trust, which is a key factor in hiring a stranger. Speaking of how hard it is to get work without knowing the right people…

2. It can be great for networking within your industry

Volunteer for something related to your own business. If you’re in a trade, there are probably non-profit organizations focused around that trade. For example: If you’re in advertising there may be a local “ad club” to help organize, or if you’re a doctor you could work with a local group offering free checkups for millennials who followed their dreams.

Just a few more semesters and I'll be a REAL clown!

Who knows who you’ll meet and where they’ll wind up, but if you’ve narrowed it down to people related to your profession you’ll increase the chance of growing your own career.

For example, I volunteer on the leadership team for CreativeMornings/RVA. The Richmond, Virginia chapter of a global non-profit that supports the creative community on a local level. I only just joined the team, but a few hours after I thought to write this post I was approached by someone who recognized me from our most recent event and went out of their way to introduce themselves. They asked about my life and career, and were excited to come to the next event. Without volunteering I would probably never have met this person, and certainly not in a way that makes it so easy to feel professionally connected.

3. Learn and grow new skills

Let’s say you’re interested in photography or graphic design, but have next to no experience. Nobody’s going to hire you as a photographer or graphic designer without a solid portfolio, so it'll be difficult to get that much-needed experience in a professional environment.

That’s where volunteering comes in. Mistakes are easily tolerated when you’re donating your efforts for a good cause, and you’ll have a team of people working with you to advise on, and improve, your work. There may even be opportunities to find mentors who can guide you to a professional skill level faster than expected.

So if you’re going to do spec work, it may as well be for a good cause.

4. Make new friends

Cheesy: yes. Important: also yes.

New friends mean new ideas and influences in your life. Without challenging ourselves and our preconceived notions of the world, life grows boring, predictable, and lacking in potential. I think that alone is justification enough for volunteering.

5. Break up your routine, vacuous, soulless existence

Let’s get real for a second. The average life in the modern world doesn’t leave a lot of room for variety. Most people hold down their job and blow through their free time doing the same crap they always do, be it watching Netflix or getting drunk with friends (or both at the same time). If you have kids, there’s also everything that goes with that.

Shut up, shut up, shut up, god damnit, shut up

Get the hell out of the house. Go do something different. Learn and grow and do something that will leave you feeling nice and fulfilled. Damn, is it that hard? Bring your stupid kids if you have to. It’s good for them or whatever, blah blah blah.

6. Do (or don’t do) work that you enjoy

You aren’t always in the position to choose the work you want over the work you have to do. Remember those kids we were talking about? Sometimes you can’t just throw your hands up and yell at your boss, or throw your boss up and yell at your hands; not so with volunteer work.

You can volunteer to do whatever type of work you want, for as much time as you feel like, and you can walk away whenever. You can say no and the world will keep turning. Your bills will still get paid. Cordon off a section of your week that you can use to whatever end you decide. Regain some control in your pathetic, cog-like, servile excuse for a life.

There are other benefits, but I'm not just going to volunteer that kind of information. $$

So that’s all I have for now. Feels kinda dirty. Like I’ve highlighted an aspect of something that should just be left in the dark. Mother Theresa was probably getting her jollies slapping sick people with medicine or whatever it is she did. Whatever, if you make the world a better place you deserve a little recognition. Go forth and be good(ish).

Tell me how volunteering is going for you. Need some advice or suggestions on where to look for volunteer opportunities? Happy to help. Shout out in the comments or on the forum.

]]>Whoa! Pro-Bono Cash Flow Variety Show, Yo!Unselling: The New Customer ExperienceResource ReviewsEric ElliottSun, 24 Jan 2016 19:59:24 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2016/1/24/unselling-the-new-customer-experience560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:56a4f521df40f3c82e87edaeA GREAT RESOURCE FOR HUMANS THAT DO BUSINESS WITH OTHER HUMANS
by Eric ElliottA GREAT RESOURCE FOR HUMANS THAT DO BUSINESS WITH OTHER HUMANS

by Eric Elliott

Nobody likes to be sold to. Nobody likes to be coerced and nobody likes to be pushed. It's weird and it's gross. According to Scott Stratten and Alison Kramer though, it's worse than that: it's just plain rude.

We've been following Scott Stratten for a while now and Shawn recently reviewed his book, Unmarketing. I just finished reading Scott and Alison's followup, Unselling: The New Customer Experience, and I can tell you that you will be hard-pressed to find a book that does a better job of explaining why it's so important to focus on building a loyal community around your brand or product. Stratten and Kramer expertly intertwine their perspective on the customer/brand interface with case studies in a way that informs, inspires, and entertains.

Why should you check out Unselling?

It will help you build a fan-base, not a customer base.

Unselling pushes its readers to see beyond the traditional sales funnel and forces them take a more holistic approach towards the customer experience. You'll learn why everyone, from the recruiter to the CEO, needs to support an awesome customer experience.

Stratten has an almost pathological need to expose branding gone wrong. As a result, Unselling is as much a how-not-to manual as it is a how-to for brands aspiring to achieve greatness and avoid infamy.

When you’re finished reading Unselling, you will know that your brand is more than just a logo and that the content you produce is more than a catchy headline. You'll come away invigorated, knowing how you can add value to your customers’ lives in a way that goes way beyond shilling any old product or service.

Unselling places a lot of demands on you as a business-person, but not as a reader. Scott and Alison's writing style results in a book that is approachable for those new to the game, but still immensely useful for veterans.

Doesn't it look a lot more fun to have fans?

Scott likes to bring up this statistic again and again:

60% of the purchasing decision is made before the customer even makes contact with a brand.

As a result, you need to pay attention to your customer and positively engage with them at every phase of their journey with your brand, not just when they're prepared to buy. Stratten and Kramer employ an extremely effective and easy to understand paradigm for the customer experience: the pulse. Focus on your customer's pulse and you'll be well on your way towards developing an army of advocates. Ignore your customer's pulse, and you're one insensitive tweet from driving away customers for good.

The philosophy presented in Unselling may not be new, but Scott and Alison's focus on creating a genuine, human experience for every individual customer at every level and touch point is an argument that cannot be made enough. If you think you know what's good for you and your business, move Unselling to the top of your reading list: then you really will know.

You can help us out by grabbing a copy through our affiliate link here. Amazon will give us 10% of the cost of the book, as well as a smaller bit of anything else you buy (the price is the same for you either way). Go forth and shop!

Have any good books or resources you'd like to share with your pals at Money Earned? Shout out in the comments or scoot on over to the forum and let us know!

]]>Unselling: The New Customer ExperienceB Corporations: Make Your Business a Force for GoodResource ReviewsCorporateStartupsShawn StoneThu, 21 Jan 2016 00:43:57 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2016/1/20/b-corporations-make-your-business-a-force-for-good560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:56a029d41a5203899f958edeHow and Why to be More Than a Business
By Shawn StoneHow and Why to be More Than a Business

By Shawn Stone

I recently came across this quote, and it's become a bit of a personal mantra:

"It is a commonplace executive observation that businesses exist to make money, and the observation is usually allowed to go unchallenged. It is, however, a very limited statement about the purposes of business."

- Daniel Katz and Robert L. Kahn from their book The Social Psychology of Organizations

What are the purposes (plural) of your business? Of business in general? It seems like a straightforward question, but I spent hours thinking through this, churning ideas over and trying to lay out something concrete. Making money can be one purpose (it is a business, after all), but what else would you hope to achieve? It occurred to me that it's a very subjective question that would vary not only person-to-person, but among cultures and over time.

The beauty in such a malleable concept is that we can mold it into whatever we like. So the real question isn't "What are the purposes of your business?" but rather "What do you want the purposes of your business to be?" We can even take that a step further and break it down into "What do you want the purposes of your business to be in each stage of development as you grow and change?"

Anyone familiar with branding and business creation has seen these general themes in the creation of mission and vision statements. Those are great tools to summarize your purposes and make them easily accessible, but their succinct nature requires broad strokes and allows a lot of room for interpretation. They can be a lot like the evil, wish-granting monkey paw of the business world; your business may accomplish its mission, but you might not like the way it went down...

Damnit, Jones. Tapeworms aren't a health plan.

So how do you ensure your business stays on track with your ethical intentions, even once you're out of the picture via sale or a change in management?

Enter the B Corp Movement

Founded in 2006, B Lab is a non-profit organization that created and maintains the global community of Certified B Corporations. Certified B Corporations redefine success in business:

Individually, B Corps meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability, and aspire to use the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems. With over 1,500 participating businesses in at least 42 countries, it's a snowballing movement for change through ethical business. Members include such notable companies as Etsy, Ben & Jerry's, Warby Parker, King Arthur Flour, and Patagonia.

"The B Corp movement is one of the most important of our lifetime, built on the simple fact that business impacts and serves more than just shareholders—it has an equal responsibility to the community and to the planet."

- Rose Marcario, CEO of Patagonia

Why You Should Become a B Corp

Just a few reasons taken straight from B Lab's website:

Lead a Movement

Differentiate from Pretenders

Attract Investors

Generate Press

Benchmark Performance

Get Discounts and Access to Services

Attract and Engage Talent

Protect Your Mission

Essentially, B Lab has provided companies a way prove they walk the walk. Now we can show our stakeholders that we're built on good business, and not just good marketing.

How to Join In

So you want to B better? You're only five steps away from being a Certified B Corp:

You need to have been in business for at least a year to qualify.

Take the B Impact Assessment and score at least 80 out of 200 points. Don't worry if you don't get there right away; B Lab offers great support in helping raise your score.

Follow the Legal Roadmap to make sure you structure your business to B Corp standards. Requirements vary depending on your type of business (LLC, Sole-Proprietorship, etc.).

Sign the appropriate Term Sheet for your business structure. Oh, and pay the annual certification fee that goes with it. Fees scale with your company's income level.

Last but not least, you get to sign the Declaration of Interdependence, which holds the core B Corp philosophy. I think it's fantastic, so you know I'm going to go ahead and post it for you to read:

We envision a global economy that uses business as a force for good. This economy is comprised of a new type of corporation – the B Corporation – Which is purpose-driven and creates benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

As B Corporations and leaders of this emerging economy, we believe:

That we must be the change we seek in the world.

That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered.

That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all. To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.

So that about wraps it up. Personally, I'm impatiently counting down the days to Money Earned's one-year anniversary. How about you?

What are your thoughts on B Corps? Do you see the B in your future?

Don't be weird about it. Just tell me.

moneyearned]]>B Corporations: Make Your Business a Force for GoodBroken Watch, Broken CultureSalesHRCorporateStartupsEric ElliottTue, 19 Jan 2016 04:21:54 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2015/12/27/broken-watch-sales-over-service560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:56800a7869a91a95349ecb5eHOW YOU’RE LOSING CUSTOMERS FOR GOOD BY PRIORITIZING SALES OVER SERVICE
by Eric ElliottHOW YOU’RE LOSING CUSTOMERS FOR GOOD BY PRIORITIZING SALES OVER SERVICE

by Eric Elliott

This story starts with a watch. This watch isn’t special; it's no Rolex or Patek Philippe. It's just a regular old Timex.

This story isn’t really about the watch though. It’s about how, in just moments, a business can alienate customers if they place too much emphasis on short-term sales, losing focus on customer values and the long game.

The Watch Story

A few years ago while I was working towards a graduate degree, my wife had to support the both of us. We were getting by, but we weren't living the high life either. So when the holidays came around that year and I unwrapped a Timex watch that she had scraped together enough money to purchase for me, I was touched.

Unfortunately, what with my tendency to bump into things and time being what it is, the watch was eventually in need of some repair. The battery eventually died and the crystal of the watch had cracked.

Fast-forward to this Christmas. My wife decided that it was time to get my old watch fixed. So, during peak shopping season, she battled holiday traffic, got ample parallel parking practice, and trekked from shop to shop looking for a jeweler worthy of the task.

Unfortunately, jeweler after jeweler was totally unwilling to repair my old time-piece. Even after explaining it's sentimental value, many of the area's jewelers would not even consider fixing the watch because it was such an inexpensive piece.

One jeweler was particularly flippant and condescending about the entire operation. They just couldn't understand:

Why would you pay to have such a cheap watch fixed when you can just buy one of these new watches instead? They're only $600. Oh, and by the way, would you like to get a wishlist started so that your husband can come in and see what you'd like this year for Christmas?

Needless to say, my wife didn't stick around and she definitely didn't start a wishlist.

The Moral of the Story

I get it. I've worked in sales too. When the holidays roll around and you want to end the year on a high note it's easy to over-emphasize the sale, especially when a healthy commission is on the line.

By doing so though, you're missing out on a major opportunity to build rapport and trust with your customer (at what time of year do you have the opportunity to build relationships with as many customers as Christmas?!). You're trading loyalty for, in the case of the jeweler above, $600. If your customer's loyalty is worth so little to you; if you take your customer's motivations and feelings for granted for such modest gains, you've got major problems on the horizon in the socially-driven, and very crowded modern marketplace.

When the jeweler in this story failed to acknowledge my wife's motivations and tried to pressure her into buying a new watch, not only did she lose a sale at that moment, but any subsequent sales with us. My wife's birthday is coming up soon; so is Valentine's day. Our anniversary is a few short months away. On top of that, we've been to several holiday parties and we've told this story to multiple acquaintances, all of whom now share a similar opinion of the story's antagonist. The jeweler has risked a whole lot of social equity and community loyalty for the opportunity to sell one person a single timepiece.

The Long-game: Using Your Humanity to Build Loyalty and Trust

Among millennial consumers, trust ranks right up there with brand recognition as one of the main drivers of brand recognition. In fact, it ranks almost as high as the quality of the product. According to recent poll results released by NewsCred,

The most important driver of brand loyalty for millennials is a great product at 77%, followed closely by brand recognition and trust at 69%.

With those numbers in mind, it only makes sense to focus on building strong relationships with your customer base by providing a robust customer experience built upon empathy and thoughtful listening. Customers trust brands that care about them as human beings and not just a sale.

If you refuse to truly listen to your customers and fail to acknowledge their needs and feelings, you're leaving one of your most powerful tools in the toolbox: your humanity. The brands that matter and the brands that last focus on building a rapport with their customers. It's natural for customers to engage with a decent human being that they feel a connection with. On the flip-side, it's easy to walk away from Salesperson #37 and never see them again. It's also hard not to give the benefit of the doubt to someone that you trust and that you've developed a strong relationship with, which gives a certain amount of room to take risks and/or fail. If you're Salesperson #37, though, you either need to be 100% on point or you need to be forgettable. Because if you're otherwise, it means you f@cked up and I'm going to have no problem letting everyone know about it.

Building a Culture of Caring: Service Over Sales

Customers engage with the brands they care about, and they care about the brands that care about them. So it's imperative that caring about the customer is built into the culture of a brand.

A culture that cares starts with the people in HR. If you want a workforce that cares about the customer, then service needs to be built into every phase of the HR process. When you recruit, considering placing a preference on applicants that have a demonstrated history of community involvement. As you on-board new employees, make sure they see your company's service culture in action and ensure they see how it benefits everyone.

On the sales floor, abolish the script and take customer service off of the clock. Worry less about your word-track and more about communicating truthfully with the customer, making sure you resolve their problem regardless of how long it takes. Doing so will encourage front-line representatives to interact with customers in a more genuine, human fashion. Also, try incentivizing service over sales by linking bonus structures with customer feedback.

Most importantly, as with any aspect of company culture, caring needs to come from the top. If the people in the C-Suite don't care about the customer and if they can't be bothered to listen to their customer's needs, then why should anyone else?

Ultimately, your customers' decision to buy or not to buy is just that: a decision. That decision is driven by your customer's motivations, aspiration, goals, and yes, their feelings. If you and your company genuinely listen to your customers and strive to understand where they are coming from as rational human beings, then you will be on the road towards relevancy and engagement. If, on the other hand, you want to focus on the short-term gain and see each customer as just another tick towards the fulfillment of a monthly quota, you will be limiting your brand's ability to grow. You will also be driving your customers off of your sales floor and into the very open doors of your more caring competitors.

What do you think? Has a sales person ever treated you like you had dollar signs on your forehead and, as a result, lost your business forever? We'd love to hear from ya!

Bad marketing is everywhere, and Scott Stratten specializes in pointing it out. Lucky for you, he also specializes in offering clear, concisely formed alternatives to every lazy/skeezy/ignorant attempt at marketing he shares. With his book UnMarketing (#unbook), he's taken it a step further by combining these interesting case studies with his own experiences to give you the foundation you need to avoid costly mistakes and (hopefully) find some real success in your marketing efforts.

Here's what you'll get out of it:

A perspective and way of thinking that lets you create your own engaging, effective marketing strategies that attract customers on their terms instead of shouting out and falling flat (It's bolded because it's the most important part, and if that's all you get it's worth every penny.)

A solid understanding of why and how to successfully use social media to communicate with your customers

An almost unhealthily robust understanding of Twitter

Detailed guidance on personal branding

A book that is easy to pick up and tough to put down, with a little something for everyone

Scott Stratten is is a Canadian, so you know he's a nice guy. I'm half Canadian myself, which is probably what keeps me just polite enough to squeak by with the square crowd.

In fact, the book itself is written in language that pretty much oozes that laid-back, endearing nice guy feel. The boy you went to high school with that cracked jokes that were just a little too cheesy and who didn't quite fit in, but really pulled it together in college (probably).

The most appealing thing about the book is its bite-size formatting. Chapters are short and sweet, broken up into little case studies for you to absorb and reflect on in the little 5-10 minute breaks you can find throughout a busy day. No worries about losing your place or having to reread sections to catch back up.

Not everything in the book will apply to everyone, but quite a lot of it will. There are also plenty of more in-depth and professional level marketing materials out there that will target specific audiences and techniques. However, if you don't have the core concepts in UnMarketing in consideration for every decision you make, you may as well spend your time banging your head against a wall. Your audience will thank you for sparing them the wasted time.

You can see and hear the essential gist of Scott's philosophy echoed by quite a few of the modern marketing elite (Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuck, etc.), as well as our own About Page. Marketing is about offering value to customers, and you're targeting real people (not just wallets).

By the time you finish the book you'll start seeing marketing everywhere you go, and with new eyes.

The reason UnMarketing (#unbook) appeals so strongly is its overabundance of real-world examples that put this philosophy to use. By the time you finish the book you'll start seeing marketing everywhere you go, and with new eyes. You'll dissect it as good or bad and be able to extrapolate on why and how it can be improved upon or modified to work for your own needs.

If this sounds like a book you could use (and you know it does), it's just a few bucks and you can always gift it to a friend or colleague when you're done for major social points; you get bonus points if you leave in witty and thoughtful notes throughout the pages.

And here's the pitch...

Do us a favor and grab a copy through our link here or by clicking on the picture of my own copy below. Amazon will give us 10% of the cost of the book, as well as a smaller bit of anything else you buy (the price is the same for you either way)...so if you're going to go ahead and get that new boat, now's the time! Why stop there? You could just do all of your shopping through our link and keep us running for a year at no cost...I'm kidding (I think?).

Hey, whoa! You found the secret bonus mini-review!

Scott and his lady (Alison Kramer) also have a podcast named shockingly, UnPodcast (I said he was nice and knows his stuff, not creative). If you really dig his casual style, humor, and ragging on crappy marketing examples, you'll like this podcast.

The flip side is, after listening to about 15 episodes I let it fade away and eventually unsubscribed. I listen to a LOT of podcasts and spend a lot of time reading, so I really value every minute of my time. I start to get frustrated if I haven't learned anything helpful or interesting after a few minutes of listening.

Scott and Alison have a tendency to get way off topic, and just generally ramble on and chat for longer than I'd like. They openly admit to this on air and their many, many, many fans don't have a problem with it. I just think it's one of those things where format makes a difference to me. I'll keep my Stratten in the written word.

If you aren't me, and I'm pretty sure you aren't, give the UnPodcast a listen and check it out for yourself. At the very least, you'll probably get some laughs in at their goofy banter.

moneyearned]]>UnMarketing: A Foundational Guide to Ethical MarketingMuut: the Platform for Community BuildingResource ReviewsShawn StoneThu, 14 Jan 2016 01:08:58 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2015/12/8/muut-forums-a-platform-for-community-building560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:5666f9abdf40f3e879f5f2daHow to give your site a BRILLIANTLY EXECUTED communication platform
By Shawn StoneHow to give your site a BRILLIANTLY EXECUTED communication platform

By Shawn Stone

Muut offers seamless communication for members of your community throughout your site, and I'm falling a little bit in love with them (like a friend you might love a bit, but not enough to make a move). They give you the ability to work directly with your audience, building honest relationships and getting real-time feedback.

How? Three Ways:

1. Forums

The forums are definitely the flagship element of Muut's communications cocktail, and act as a foundation for the rest. If you haven't used a forum before, stop by the Money Earned forum and say hi!

Essentially, a forum is a discussion board consisting of various channels that each cover a different topic. Within these channels, users post individual "threads" that focus on a specific idea within the topic. For example, if your website was for a company selling baby products you might have a channel focusing on diapers and a user might post a thread within it asking about cloth diapers, or changing diapers, etc.

Or other...uses...

The forum is a place focused entirely around interacting with your community, and encouraging them to interact with one another. Use it to:

Learn how your current products are being used

Discover new ways to meet your customers' needs

Get feedback on your new products or ideas

Build brand ambassador relationships

And pretty much anything else you can think up

2. Comments

If you have a blog, the comments section is what makes your blog engaging for readers. Blogging is conversational and relies on readers' feedback to be effective. Muut's comments can be linked to your forum and archived for easy access. They also offer some other advantages that I'll get to shortly (see Integration).

3. Messaging

The icing on the cake comes in the form of a live-messaging box that pops up in the corner of your site. Visitors can see who else is hanging around and easily send direct messages to admins or each other. You can also start group chats, which really helps with community building and project-based conversation.

It's not just the basics. Muut goes above and beyond.

I took the time to read Muut's Manifesto and was nothing but impressed by their thoughtful dedication to improving online communication. They've earned their reputation as the best in the business.

A few of my favorite elements:

Customer Service

I'm awful with coding. A total noob. Lucky for me, the excellent support team at Muut solved every issue I ran into at the drop of a hat. They even took the time to personally explore my website's code and write specific fixes.

Even more impressive: When my improperly coded SquareSpace template was causing something to bug out, I gave Monika (a most helpful and friendly Muut rep) admin access to moneyearned.net and she was able to diagnose the issue so I could work with SquareSpace to find a workaround. I can't imagine getting such in-depth and personal help from any other company.

Wow.

Easy to Follow Discussions

The conversations are linear, rather than allowing content to fork off in various directions by commenting on individual responses. This keeps the discussion on track and emphasizes quality over quantity.

When you first arrive on the forum page, there's a nice summary of every discussion you've participated in, that keeps you up to date on anything you've missed.

You can choose from all types of ready-made skins that will match your site's design, or even go a little more in-depth and customize yours with code. The options are limitless. Design is everything when you want your site to look professional.

Credible

Muut does something you don't see very often: they only give you 2.7 minutes to make any changes or corrections to a post. Otherwise, what happens in Muut stays in Muut. This ensures people are given enough time to fix a quick typo or mistake, but are held accountable for their words. It forces users to think about what they post and keeps discussions sensible, with no awkward gaps where posts have been deleted. I think it's brilliant!

Integration

Last, but certainly not least, Muut integrates with all sorts of apps and software. The most relevant to my experience is Slack. Working with Eric, we're on Slack all the time and rely on it for 90% of business communication. I can't wait until our community grows enough to justify upgrading our Muut plan from Mini to Medium so we can take advantage of integration.

With that, we'll be able to see new posts instantly, and even reply to them through Slack. How awesome is that‽ And yes, I just used an interrobang.

What else?

Plenty, but I'll let you explore that on your own. I seriously can't recommend Muut enough. I love when companies have a real mission behind their work, and a great product to boot. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

Thoughts or questions? To the (Muut) comments section with you!

moneyearned]]>Muut: the Platform for Community BuildingBUFFER IS MAKING GOOGLE LOOK COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCHCorporateStartupsHRShawn StoneWed, 13 Jan 2016 02:22:39 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2016/1/11/buffer-is-making-google-look-completely-out-of-touch560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:56943c147086d73920fea3a6HOW PAY TRANSPARENCY IS BRINGING EQUITY AND LOYALTY TO THE WORKPLACE
By Shawn StoneHOW PAY TRANSPARENCY IS BRINGING EQUITY AND LOYALTY TO THE WORKPLACE

By Shawn Stone

I really want to tell you about Buffer, but first we need to touch on a story from inside the glossytech space-colony that is Google. Back in July, you may have read about Erica Baker (@EricaJoy), who was compelled to tweet a play-by-play of the PR nightmare that led to her eventual exit from working as a Google engineer.

You can find a more detailed account (including full Twitter log) here, but the TLDR runs something like:

Baker and a group of Google employees created a spreadsheet designed to collect and compare employee salaries. It caught on and spread quickly through Google's internal social network, eventually collecting salaries of as many as 5% of their nearly 60,000 employees.

Employees loved it and many used analysis of the spreadsheet to justify asking for (and receiving) raises. This is especially important because (Erica implied) analysis showed potential unsettling trends relating to gender and ethnicity.

Management pulled her aside and responded negatively to the spreadsheet. "Don't you know what could happen?"

Management consistently denied Baker's peer bonuses (Google lets employees recommend one another for small, $150 bonuses when they do something great), while approving those of a white male coworker that was involved in the spreadsheet's creation. Oh yeah, Baker is black. Apparently that might be relevant when deciding who gets their bonuses?

In a world where salaries are routinely negotiated, it's no surprise that pay wouldn't turn out to be equitable across all lines. It's also no spoiler that management wouldn't want employees pointing that out (then they may actually have to pay people equitably).

Luke kills Heisenberg on page 596, and the new guy deserves $8,000 more than you.

The real surprise for most of you will be that Google was breaking federal law if they were actively discouraging employees from sharing their salaries with one another or punishing Erica for doing so. So sayeth the National Labor Relations Act of 1935!

Nearly every midsize to large company I've worked for has discouraged me from talking about my pay, and it's clearly embedded in U.S. workplace culture as a big no-no. It's easy to understand why, but it poses a sincere problem for employees and companies alike.

The issues that Erica Baker raised about gender and ethnicity play no small role in our culture. People hold different expectations and have different interpretations of actions among various groups. While a man negotiating might be interpreted as a positive trait in the form of confidence, management may see a woman in the same role as "pushy."

Faced with such a delicate problem, what's the 40th most profitable company in the world to do?

Buffer's Brilliant Solution

Buffer is a social-sharing startup and bit of a bamboo company, in that it's been growing quickly over the past few years. They've been a model for business transparency as a whole, and actively promote progressive, ethical business ideology. Google can take a lesson from them on many things, but for now let's focus on pay transparency.

The app will tell you exactly how much you (or anyone else at Buffer) will make, and is based on a carefully curated formula that accounts for location, cost of living, skill level, dependents, and years working at Buffer (loyalty). The formula is readily available, and every Buffer employee has their salary posted publicly online (CEO included). This is a bit of an ongoing experiment and Buffer's tweaking things as they go, but so far so good.

Backing up the Buffer system, compensation data company PayScale surveyed more than 70,000 US employees and found that workers paid below market rate have higher job satisfaction when their employer is transparent about pay. Even more impressive, job satisfaction more than doubles from 40% to 82% when someone sits down and talks with employees about their pay.

No more worries about whether you're being underpaid, and no time wasted around the water cooler whispering rumors of secretive bonuses; there's just a clear and mutually accepted contract between worker and employer.

That's my kind of job. How about you?

What are your experiences with the salary sharing taboo?

moneyearned]]>BUFFER IS MAKING GOOGLE LOOK COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCHLUMOS LABS AND YOU: HOW TO GET FINED $2 MILLIONMarketingEric ElliottThu, 07 Jan 2016 01:56:38 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2016/1/5/lumosity-misleading-marketing560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:568c03a925981da9388b72c1SHINING A LIGHT ON LUMOSITY'S MISLEADING MARKETING
By Eric ElliottSHINING A LIGHT ON LUMOSITY'S MISLEADING MARKETING

By Eric Elliott

Don't let the quest for short-term profits and quarterly gains overshadow the hard work you're doing to develop long-lasting, trusted relationships with your customers. When companies intentionally mislead their customers and make claims that they can't possibly support, they're risking a lot more than just a fine and some bad press. In today's social economy, a company's reputation is one of its most important assets.

Let's be real for a second: did any of us really think spending a few minutes a day playing some cleverly designed games on our mobile devices would improve mental function? Today the Federal Trade Commission announced that Lumos Labs, the company behind the popular "brain-training" app Lumosity, will pay a $2 million redress on charges of deceptive advertising practices.

Reduce cognitive impairment due to health conditions such as stroke and PTSD

What's more, Lumos Labs claimed that research studies had been conducted that supported their claims. However, we now know that Lumos Labs' claims regarding their most popular product are not entirely true. While there is a lot of research going on regarding neuroplasticity and the benefits of cognitive training, it is now pretty clear that the only thing Lumosity improves is the user's ability to play Lumosity. The FTC goes on to explain that much of the customer testimonials featured on the Labs' website were in fact solicited endorsements.

If we're being honest, isn't this where we all do most of our brain training?

Truth and transparency are more relevant today than ever before. When you get caught misleading your customers, and you most certainly will, you will face the consequences (hello, Volkswagen). Isn't it just simpler to create something awesome and be honest about the results?

I'm not a cynic. I honestly want to believe that Lumos Labs really intended to help their users improve their cognitive abilities. So I'm asking you: How could Lumos Labs have marketed Lumosity to build a solid customer-base and build market-share in the crowded mobile gaming marketplace while still being truthful about their product? What would you do in their shoes?

Shawn and I would love to hear from you. Please take a second to comment on this article and in our forums, because you are the whole reason we show up to work.

]]>LUMOS LABS AND YOU: HOW TO GET FINED $2 MILLIONFlex for MeCorporateStartupsShawn StoneMon, 21 Dec 2015 17:33:29 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2015/12/20/flex-for-me560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:5676ce3e05f8e2dd0072eb17How and Why to Not F##k Up Flexible Working
By Shawn StoneHow and Why to Not F##k Up Flexible Working

By Shawn Stone

Monday, 8am(ish): you wake up without an alarm and start some coffee. Take the time to make a real breakfast (bacon, eggs, some nice bread, etc.); you don't need to buy cereal anymore.

After breakfast, spend an hour exercising and reading to start the workday with fresh ideas and energy. There's a meeting to make at noon, but traffic is a breeze since you never travel to the office in rush hour...plenty of time to knock out the day's few pressing tasks from home before surrounding yourself with office distractions and compulsory chit-chat.

By the time you're out of the meeting, you've finished more work than most who've been at the office since 8:30. Now's a good time to go out for lunch with the friend you've been neglecting. So after a two-hour lunch catching up, you head home to finish out the rest of your workday in peace.

YES, THIS IS A REAL OPTION.

Variations of flexible working have been successfully adopted by a growing number of companies around the world. When employees can choose the time and place they work (so long as everything gets done), companies see increased efficiency, productivity, and employee happiness from a better work/life balance. Many employees even prefer flexible working to higher salaries (*raises hand).

Some companies (e.g. Enerplus or Grant Thorton) go a step further by offering unlimited vacation time, removing all restrictions on total hours put in and rewarding productivity over availability.

Another long weekend in Croatia? If I HAVE to.

Well it sounds perfect and simple enough. Now is about the time you start to think you should leverage flexible working to make your company more sensible, attractive and profitable...

Don't f##k it up.

You can't just declare "Flextime, suckas!", pop a bottle and start celebrating how progressive and cool your company is. Without the proper planning and management systems in place, it could be a recipe for disaster.

For example: Kickstarter ended its unlimited vacation policy in September in favor of a 25-day maximum vacation policy. Why? Well it wasn't because people were taking too much time off.

Without clear expectations, employees hesitate to take vacation days for fear of jeopardizing their positions at work. Office politics and competitive environments discourage vacation use in any policy, but unlimited policies can actually result in even less vacation use by offering no clear guidelines.

Every company and industry is different, so there's no one-size fits all policy that solves this problem. However, there are some specific things you should account for as a manager:

1. Performance Reviews

Make sure employees' reviews are tied specifically to their accomplishments and not attendance. Make sure they are confident in this.

2. Track Vacation/Flextime

Track vacation use among all employees and pay close attention to detail. If an employee isn't using any vacation, approach them and find out why. Make sure they feel comfortable taking days off and consider letting employees see the general range of days taken (no specifics) so that they're encouraged to take advantage as well.

3. Ensure Equity

Some industries require more oversight on flexible working that others, usually for coordination's sake. This often takes the form of managerial approval for flexible working on an as-needed basis. It's absolutely vital to track and analyze flexible working opportunities allotted to employees to ensure equity among gender, ethnicity, position, etc. whenever possible. A study in the June, 2013 Journal of Social Issues showed managers are more likely to approve flexible working for men than women. It's important to ensure your employees are protected from subconscious (or even conscious) biases.

4. Model Behavior

Management should take advantage of the flexible working and vacation policies themselves, and share their experiences with staff. Consider an employee lifestyle blog, newsletter pieces, or other means of encouraging staff to make use of your policies. If you want to have a real flexible working environment, you have to live it every day.

5. Reward Worker Flexibility

You want employees to use their benefits, but it could be a big stick in your spokes if they drop out for vacation in the middle of the busy season or an important project. Consider options that encourage employees to be flexible with their vacation usage. For example, offer bonus vacation days to workers using their vacation between projects or in designated slow seasons. You can offer the same incentive to employees who restrict vacation day usage to shorter breaks (e.g. 2-3 days at a time) instead of taking them all at once.

Flex for me.

Tell us a bit about your own flexible working experiences in the comments. Horror stories, cheery successes, quirky solutions, etc. Go on, you can do it.

moneyearned]]>Flex for MeLet's Do LaunchStartupsEric ElliottMon, 14 Dec 2015 19:53:19 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2015/12/8/lets-do-launch560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:5667614aa976afbcece02272Four things to remember when starting your own business
By Eric ElliottFour things to remember when starting your own business

By Eric Elliott

About half of all new businesses survive past the five year mark. Care to take a guess at how many new ventures make it to their tin anniversary? According to the Small Business Administration: one-third. Yet, despite the odds, the expense, and the sleepless nights, there is a steady stream of eager entrepreneurs taking the first steps towards striking out and starting up their own business.

The purpose of this post is not to help you come up with ideas or a new product. If you’re reading this, chances are, you have that already. Furthermore, this post will not help you survive your first day of business, let alone your first year. We’re new here ourselves and we’re trying to beat the odds, just like you.

The purpose of this post is to walk you through our process. Of course, in a way, this post is just a preamble to a much larger and longer story that Shawn and I will continue to write as we build our own business. Hopefully, it will help you take those brave first steps towards creating something you can proudly call your own, with a minimum of surprises, and no looking back.

Start With Why

“Why?” This single, simple word is fundamental to any endeavor but any startup will need to have their “why” firmly established from the outset.

Naturally, at this point you should be asking yourself, “why?”

Why is why so important? Because, once you know why, you’ve hit upon your purpose and this sense of purpose can significantly affect a startup’s chances at success. In his book, “Start With Why,” Simon Sinek uses the race for heavier than air flight as allegory for why purpose is so important.

Orville and Wilbur Wright were competing with many scientists all over the world to be the first to achieve controlled, manned flight. Not least among their competition was Samuel Pierpont Langley. From funding to staffing, Langley had everything going for him while the Wright Brothers had a bicycle shop. But, in addition to their shop and a couple of college degrees between them:

The Wright Brothers did have something very special. They had a dream.

Wilbur and Orville worked within their community to turn their dream into a reality and inspire others to aid and support them. Langley, on the other hand, “was looking for achievement.” As a result, the Wright Brothers won the race and now, they’re known the world over as pioneers. Langley, on the other hand, is more well known as the moniker of an air force base than as an actual, living person.

Shawn and I will be covering purpose a lot in future and, while, “why” is an important component of a business’ high-level decision making structure it is also essential in frontline marketing and sales functions. According to Ben Ratner, a blogger for Hubspot, knowing the “why” of your business will help marketers and sales professionals define your company, differentiate your business from its competition, and target potential customers with similar beliefs.

More importantly, at this stage of the game, having a clear sense of why will help entrepreneurs persevere in the face of long odds and late nights. Margie Warrell put it perfectly for Forbes,

a clear sense of purpose enables you to focus your efforts on what matters most, compelling you to take risks and push forward regardless of the odds or obstacles.

Done Is Better Than Perfect

Look, I get it. You’re passionate about your purpose and you know that nobody will support a mediocre service or product. However, now isn’t really the time for perfection. Now is the time to get things started and get things done.

Aristotle said:

We are what we do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.

I’d take a it a little further and say that that excellence comes to those that do.

In 2009, Bre Pettis and Kio Stark wrote the Cult of Done Manifesto and gave us 10 keys to overcome the focus on perfection in favor of execution. The most important take away comes at the very end, “Done is the engine of more.”

Think about it, when you reflect back on a productive day, how great does that feel? Think about how much easier is it to do it all again the next day, and the day after that. If you’re in the habit of pursuing done over perfection, you’ll gain momentum and build self-confidence. Over time you’ll build an effective work style, and before you know it you’ll make excellence look easy.

Learn To Love The Process

Processes create outcomes. And in the beginning, processes may be all you have. As a result, your life and those of your partners will be a lot more enjoyable if you’re passionate about building sound practices that are simple, intuitive, and purposeful.

Now’s the time to experiment. Have clear goals about what you want to achieve and know what a successful outcome looks like. Then build a practice that gets you there. Keep the touch points to a minimum and make sure there are are no more than a couple of platforms involved.

“Keep It Simple, Stupid” should be your mantra. Simple processes are more scalable and facilitate discipline. Complicated processes, on the other hand, can only hinder enterprises as they expand and will frustrate everyone but your most anal-retentive staff members. Amy Rees Anderson put it well:

Less can be a whole heck of a lot more, and more can often lead to a heck of a lot less.

Focus on process now, and, once you’ve developed a product or service that people actually want to support, you’ll be able to ramp things up more easily. Once things are really rolling, though, it will be difficult to change existing practices or build new ones.

Finally, as I mentioned above, excellence comes to those that do. So, establish operational discipline early. Compliance isn’t likely to be the most popular topic around here but, in this case, it is an essential step towards a sustainable culture of excellence within your start up.

Brake Before The Turn

One thing you’ll learn about me as you read my articles here at Money Earned, is that I love to talk about motorcycles. More importantly though, at least for the purposes of this article, I love motorcycle metaphors. And one of the most important things that any nascent motorcyclist or startup needs to learn right off the bat is that you need to have most of your braking done before you enter a turn.

As you begin to build your business, you need to have a plan in place. Shawn did a great job of outlining the thought process he and I went through while we discussed starting Money Earned.

Now is the time to think about the mechanics of your business. If you have partners, how will you make decisions? How will you push through a stalemate? How will you allocate responsibility and how will you be held accountable for those responsibilities?

Obviously, you’re heading down an unknown course, so you’re not going to be able anticipate every curve that comes your way. But, with a little preparation and a lot of imagination, you can set yourself up for a smooth transition, get a knee down on the pavement, roll the throttle, and come out of the turn ready for whatever lies ahead.

]]>Let's Do LaunchMailChimp: Sexy, User-Friendly Email MarketingResource ReviewsShawn StoneThu, 03 Dec 2015 18:56:29 +0000http://www.moneyearned.net/blog/2015/12/2/mailchimp-sexy-user-friendly-email-management560b3b75e4b0844c9013f3ce:560c1210e4b01fdcd8c53dc6:565f4642e4b0f2a7710d70e2WHY WE USE MAILCHIMP AND LOVE IT
By Shawn StoneWHY WE USE MAILCHIMP AND LOVE IT

There are quite a few options out there for email marketing management, but MailChimp fits the bill for a specific type of user. We're that type, and you may be too.

First off, MailChimp may not be best for:

Very large companies

Companies with very complex marketing funnels

If you're one of the above, and have the cash (lots of it) to throw down on more robust tools, you may want to check out ONTRAPORT or Infusionsoft. They come highly recommended, but I'll leave the reviews to more experienced users.

If you don't fit into those categories, then you may find yourself as satisfied with MailChimp as we are. Let me break down the features for you:

1. Pricing Options (a lot of them)

I was first drawn to MailChimp because it offers the most robust FREE version of any platform I could find (up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month). That's beyond generous, but I was quickly upsold to the paid version when I found out it included automation options (pretty much mandatory if you're serious about email marketing and list-building).

Pricing scales with your needs and you can either purchase credits that let you pay as you go (e.g. 300 emails for $9), or sign up for a monthly plan that starts as low as $10 per month and increases in $5 increments as your subscriber list grows.

Pro Tip: The monthly plan is a better deal price-wise, but I started out with the smallest pay as you go package while I was setting up our site. This allowed me to take my time and design our emails, set up automation, etc. without paying a monthly fee for nothing. You can always upgrade later with no trouble.

2. Automation

Remember how I said this was mandatory? Well MailChimp does a solid job with it. Automation lets you plan ahead, saving time and effort while increasing sales and improving customer interactions. How? Lots of ways.

Did you sign up for our newsletter yet? You know, this one? If you do, you'll quickly see an example of the automation at work as you receive your welcome email and a push to join our excellent community forum. You know, this one.

Beyond introductions, you could schedule follow-up emails offering products, courting social media follows, and explaining parts of your business as needed. It gets even better when you include...

By combining segmentation and automation, you will be able to target your communication and make the content personal, timely and relevant for your subscribers.

4. Lovely Design

Okay, this is seriously my favorite thing about MailChimp. I'm a sucker for good design and they have similar taste. Everything is clean, user-friendly, and just flows. You may find yourself scrolling around a little more than in an old-fashioned drop-down "efficient" interface, but it's well worth it.

The highly legible fonts and simple layouts make finding and using the various tools a breeze. I also love the style and attitude their mascot is rocking. What can I say? He's just an uplifting presence.

5. Drag & Drop Templates

Well designed HTML-based email campaigns make use of a wide variety of features: videos, images, buttons, social media links, etc. MailChimp makes it easy to approximate a layout you're looking for with a pre-built template, then just drag and drop to add, move or remove content as you please. I was surprised at how easy and quick it was to throw together a beautiful campaign.

6. Fancy, Easy Analytics

MailChimp's reporting features surprisingly robust analytics that are easy to digest and put straight to use. You can iterate and improve your communication to keep subscribers happy.

7. Split Testing

Not sure what to put in your subject line that will get the most opens? MailChimp lets you test a few out on a small subsection of your list to be sure you go with the best-performer every time. As a copywriter and market researcher, I'm all about split testing.

MailChimp's tools aren't quite as powerful as some other platforms, but they are more than enough for the average business. If you can't narrow down your options to two choices, you just have a bunch of equally bad options. Write some more, then test the stand-out lines.

8. Simple Integration

Guess how long it took me to integrate MailChimp with Facebook? Literally 30 seconds. The same goes for most other major integrations. MailChimp is hugely popular, and it shows by how prepared other businesses are to help you integrate their services. I use SquareSpace for our site, and MailChimp pops right into place with an incredibly clean embed wherever I need a newsletter signup form.

9. Translation

I haven't used this feature, but I had to call it out because I just find it incredibly thoughtful. MailChimp lets you easily create your embed code, signup forms, campaigns, and all in over 40 languages. Money Earned isn't really going global anytime soon, but what a great service!

10. Support

As an entrepreneur, I've had to learn to do a lot of things on my own. So it should come as no surprise when I say that last, but nowhere close to least, comes customer support. Whatever software or service I may explore first, I'll drop it like a rotten potato if the support disappoints. Why? Because I know that if I need the support once, there's a 90% chance I'm going to need it again.

MailChimp has such thorough and well-constructed support in the form of FAQs, tutorials, knowledge base, and the like that I've never even had to speak to them directly. Seeing the effort they put in everywhere else, I have complete confidence that they will be equally helpful in a live support situation (should the day ever come).

Wrappin' it Up

MailChimp is an all-around great tool and service. I expect they will only continue to improve in time, and I look forward to riding that wave with them. If you're interested, please toss us a bone and sign up through our button (click the monkey paw image below) so we can keep the newsletters flowing without breaking our modest bank. Don't forget, you get $30 credit as well if you get a paid account, so it's a win-win.

There’s a witty old advertising slogan for Colt revolvers that has felt curiously prophetic to me since I was a child:

“God made men, but Sam Colt made them equal.”

In this light, the Colt is more than a gun; it carries more value than most any product could hope to achieve by acting as a means of leveling life’s all-too-unfair playing field. In the modern world, guns may have proven less than effective at making the world a better and more equal place…but I won’t fault people for trying. Besides, there’s a new “Colt” in play.

Right this moment, you could go online and study nearly any profession or skillset (for free), just to turn around and practice your newfound profession immediately after. With brick and mortar business fading, knowledge work on the rise and the low entry-cost that digital business offers, startup culture is our revolution.

The Internet is our generation’s Colt revolver, and you can get your money’s worth without shooting anybody. That being said, you can’t just take a shot in the dark. Take a stab at thoroughly answering these four questions before pulling the trigger (is it just me, or are English idioms really violent?):

1. Why?

I know, this is a really broad question. Ideally, you should take the time to explore every application of “why?” to your business idea, but let’s just focus on one for now:

“Why are you (and any partners) investing your resources in this project? What do you personally hope to achieve?”

It’s absolutely essential that you carefully record your goals, and those of your partners. If they aren’t aligned, you could be setting yourself up for failure.

Consider this: you have always loved dolphins and your dream is to launch and manage a new app that helps people talk to them (don’t ask me how), but you don’t have enough money to get things rolling.

Uh huh, tuna…yeah. *Yawn

Your partner has offered to pay for all of the costs, and is excited to take part. However, they expect to get a significant return on the investment and are only looking at the project as a means of making money.

You may plan on developing and running this app for the rest of your life, but your partner may push to sell the app or discontinue investment if they aren’t seeing the expected return. This can all be avoided by finding a partner with shared goals.

In our case at Money Earned, Eric and I sat down over a few different occasions to carefully lay out our goals and expectations. We both want/expect:

To devote our time to positive influence and innovation in business and marketing culture

To expand our own knowledge and experience with an industry in constant motion

To eventually earn the resources to devote ourselves to the Money Earned community on a full-time basis.

Our mutual goals gave us the confidence to press ahead, knowing we could rely on one another for support.

2. Who’s your audience?

There’s an important distinction here between audience and customer. The person you’re marketing to may be entirely different from the person footing the bill or using your product.

For example: if you want to start a nursing home, the person using the product will be a senior, but your marketing audience will more likely be their younger children or family members. These are the decision-makers who you need to target and appeal to.

In our case at Money Earned, Eric and I would like to say our audience is any and every person in business or marketing throughout the world. However, that’s not just unrealistic, but would weaken our messaging and product for our actual audience.

It’s tough to say exactly who our audience will be before we meet you all and get some feedback in the comments/forum, but we’ve ventured a broad guess. You are:

Progressive and somewhat idealistic

Optimistic

Likely, but not definitively, a Millennial or Gen X-er

In a professional position (corporate or small business) or planning a startup

Maybe this is just a reflection of ourselves, but it’ll have to do for now. Either way, the important thing is that this common vision of our audience will let us tailor our content to a specific group of readers and maximize its value. If this isn’t you, raise your hand and let us know! We’re flexible like that.

Oh come on, I know we’re not that far off.

3. What will you offer them?

In this case, I’m referring to both your audience and customers. You need to first work to empathize with these groups, getting to know their problems and needs. Then, tailor your product/marketing to those problems and needs.

You may not be able to answer this question with a Google search or a cup of coffee and a few hours to think. Depending on the complexity of your product and your audience, it may call for in-depth market research. An online survey, or at the very least getting out and talking to some potential customers can cost a bit up front, but save you from more costly mistakes in the long run.

At Money Earned, we are our own audience to a large degree, so we have a bit of an advantage. At the very least, we have a lot in common. Another benefit of our line of work is the minimal up-front investment and long-term flexibility. Unlike someone developing a physical product that requires complex manufacturing and planning, we are primarily producing content and conversation.

We want to offer you:

A support network for ethical professionals and their endeavors

A laboratory for testing and exploring new ideas

Analyses of current events that explore modern business and marketing philosophy

If we’re off on these assumptions (fingers crossed), our forum and comment threads will act as a platform for your feedback and future product testing…Hopefully allowing us to stay valuable to you: our community.

4. How will you meet these goals for your customers?

It’s all well and good to list out the many benefits of your product or service, but they aren’t worth the time it takes to read them if you don’t fully back them up. Nothing makes me shudder more than empty promises.

Okay, almost nothing.

You need to explicitly match your product’s features to the benefits they provide. So for example, if you have a new watch that promises to keep clowns away, it might have a special button that summons a troupe of mimes. Everyone knows clowns hate mimes.

Whatever the feature and benefit, you can’t just match them up and call it a day. You need to check with your customers to see whether they think the feature matches the benefit. Maybe 60% of your potential customers are also terrified of mimes. You didn’t think of that, did you?

Eric and I spent quite a while thinking through this question. We’re very open to new ideas, but so far we’re focusing on these features:

A weekly blog that explores business/marketing theory through case studies and current events

A community forum that provides a platform for our community to work together with supportive and like-minded professionals, testing new concepts and pushing boundaries

Fresh, free, unique tools and resources that help you profit and feel good about it

A collection of carefully reviewed and recommended resources from other thinkers, tailored to support your goals

Not enough for ya? Help us out and throw us some ideas…Preferably in the forum. We need idea people.

Eric and I are both incredibly excited for this project and we can’t wait to get it really rolling. That being said, it’s a community effort. If you think the Money Earned community sounds like something you want to take part in, do it! Sign up for our newsletter and introduce yourself on the forum. Invite a friend or two from work. Talk about it at the coffee shop.

Let’s change the world and find success while doing so. It’s a revolution and you’re invited.